Turner Smiley was the surprise star of the college football weekend

When Jalen Guyton joined North Texas in the offseason from Trinity Valley Community College, he instantly ascended to the top of the depth chart as a much-needed deep threat in Seth Littrell’s offensive attack. Guyton lived up to the hype surrounding his arrival, as the former ESPN300 recruit caught 45 passes for 731 yards and eight touchdowns through the first 10 games of the season. But when Guyton went down with a concussion just before halftime of Saturday night’s game against Army, there was a hole left on the perimeter North Texas needed to fill. That’s where Turner Smiley came in. Smiley, a senior who had 288 yards and one touchdown on the season entering the night, filled in seamlessly for Guyton as sophomore quarterback Mason Fine’s go-to weapon down the field. Smiley caught three passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns, quickly reminding North Texas fans of his ability to come up in the clutch. He had the go-ahead 68-yard TD catch that put the Mean Green up 49-42 late in the game and also hauled in an important 10-yard reception with less than 10 seconds left to make the game-winning field goal more manageable for kicker Trevor Moore. Smiley’s other catch came on a 45-yard bomb from Fine with 3:31 to go in the first quarter. It wasn’t the first time Smiley has had a big game for the Mean Green – last year, he caught seven passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Southern Miss that eventually got North Texas into a bowl game. Smiley has played in at least 11 games every year since joining the team as a freshman in 2014. He has been with the program through its lows, including the 1-11 2015 season, but stuck around to be apart of the turnaround under Littrell. After enduring the adversity North Texas faced as a program early in his career, Smiley stepped up in a key moment to bring the Mean Green to new heights. The 52-49 win over Army allowed the team to finish perfect at home this season – a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since 2003. Fine will get a lot of the credit as the facilitator of the offense – and he should. But Saturday night it was Smiley who surprised fans and stepped up in a big way for the Mean Green.

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